Dejan Vasiljevic has buried 10 three-pointers to lead the Adelaide 36ers to a 99-75 NBL demolition of the Cairns Taipans.
Vasiljevic scored 21 of his game-high 32 points in the opening quarter, which the Sixers dominated 38-12 to set up their landslide victory at the Cairns Convention Centre on Sunday.
MVP candidate Kendric Davis added 27 points and nine assists and import Montrezl Harrell had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the seventh-placed 36ers (11-13), who closed the gap on sixth-ranked Tasmania (12-13) on the ladder.
Big Tanner Groves (23 points, nine rebounds) was the sole shining light for the bottom-ranked Taipans.
Vasiljevic blazed seven treys in the first seven minutes as he threatened to seize the long-standing all-time individual record for a whole game of 13 by Ian Davies in 1985.
He finished with 10-of-21 from downtown, the second time he has knocked down that many threes in a game.
"When you get going, it's hard to stop," Vasiljevic said.
"The hoop becomes like a hula hoop.
"You can just throw it from anywhere and it goes in."
Behind their captain's hot hand, the Sixers hit 11 of their first 12 shots, while Cairns missed 13 of their first 15.
Vasiljevic went scoreless in the second period, but Davis stepped up with 11 points for the quarter as the margin ballooned to 29 points.
The Snakes finally showed some fight to win the term 25-22 and reduce the gap to 60-37 at halftime, before Groves' strength in the paint trimmed the deficit further to 19 points late in the third.
Vasiljevic's eighth trey capped an 8-0 response and Adelaide's advantage was back out to 26 at three-quarter-time.
Harrell delivered a dunk-of-the-year contender in the final term, coast-to-coast, blowing past Gak and stuffing a powerful slam over athletic ex-36er Kyrin Galloway, before Vasiljevic blasted his 10th three-pointer in the dying stages.
"DJ Vasiljevic shot the hell out of that ball, but he was feeling good because we were going under on screens," Cairns coach Adam Forde said.
"The starters really let us down, apart from Tanner. That was really disappointing."
